Background

The Challenge

Commuters or travellers making use of public transport expect to be connected to the internet during every part of their journey, whether in urban or rural areas. The lack of cellular coverage by mobile operators has so far hampered internet reception on the bus routes.

The Solution

DB Regio has now developed a concept with CIDEN to provide Internet access and online services to all passengers via W-LAN. By connecting the NetModule NB2700 with the Poynting MIMO-3** antenna they can now provide wireless Internet access over LTE on board. The MIMO-3-V2-12 is a 2 x 2 LTE Antenna that is easy to install on the roof of the bus. As the antenna is ultra-wide band (410 – 3800 MHz) it works with all mobile operators (Telekom, Vodafone, Telefonica (O2)) and two network technologies (3G and 4G) to provide a powerful Wi-Fi hotspot on the bus. The Poynting MIMO-3 antennas play a crucial role, as they ensure that a stable and reliable connection is established between the router in the bus and the base stations of the various telecom operators, independently on which frequencies the carriers are using.

The Result

DB Regio aims to equip its trains, busses with Wi-Fi, with the support of the transport authorities. All offers and service modules are to be integrated in a portal with a uniform user interface on the train, DB long-distance traffic (busses) and DB Regio (busses) and possibly at the (rail/bus) station and so made available to DB-customers. Combining the Frontier and Poynting hardware and Ciden’s WLANCloud application DB Regio has now converter their buses into rolling hotspots.

“With Poynting antennas, we are able to provide our customers a single package depending on the different roof types. The antennas are E-Mark certified and the cables are fire retardant and ECE R 118.2 certified, which is important criteria for choosing the MIMO-3.”– Mr Ihsan Mohammad – CEO Ciden